The Launching Years: Strategies for Parenting from Senior Year to College Life

The Launching Years--a must-read for parents coping with the two-year transition from high school to college--is an insightful and lively tour of the bumpy road involving college applications, senioritis, freshman freedom, and parent/child separation anxiety. "Launching a child into college can feel as if it's one of our last hands-on parenting acts," explain authors Laura Kastner and Jennifer Wyatt.

The beauty of this book's approach is two-fold: First it opens a window onto the world of young people leaving home, exploring application procrastination, senioritis, college choice, ambivalence about independence, and freshman freak-outs. At the same time, it holds up a mirror to parents, to help them discover deeper truths about themselves with--and without--their children. For example, one section about college applications advises parents to consider the college decision as one involving their child's identity rather than their own and to make sure the college is a good match for the child.

Via lively cases in point and inventive strategies, Kastner and Wyatt address thorny issues, including parent competition about college plans, sad and glad siblings, separating by "spoiling the nest," testing limits with drugs or sex, dumping phone calls from distraught freshmen, and having a college student home for the holidays. The authors' humor and uncommon wisdom will allow parents to let go of their children--yet stay connected with them. The fresh ideas in this book can help parents declare a child's independence and create a more loving and graceful transition to life after high school. --Barbara Mackoff